(Newser)
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Patti Stevens was unable to go on living after the love of her life was killed in a horrific and random murder, police say. The 54-year-old physical therapist was found dead on Sunday in the garage of the Dallas-area home she shared with husband Dave Stevens, who was stabbed to death while jogging two weeks ago, WFAA reports. After the death, she had called for privacy for his family and friends after the "horrible, senseless tragedy" that "has created a huge hole in our hearts." Police believe mentally ill former Texas A&M football star Thomas Johnson killed Dave Stevens with a machete-like blade as he jogged on White Rock Creek Trail on the morning of Oct. 12. He has been charged with murder.

A neighbor tells the Dallas Morning News that Patti Stevens' colleagues asked for a welfare check after she didn't answer her phone. The couple, who got married 25 years ago after meeting at Michigan State University, did not have children. Karen James, whose husband died climbing Mount Hood in 2006, tells the Morning News that she understands all too well the dark times that Stevens was experiencing. She says that what saved her was friends who stayed by her side for weeks after the death. "For anyone who thinks that, 'Oh, maybe they just need their time or their space and they don't want to intrude,'" she says. "I was too broken and devastated to ask for help. I just didn't have it in me."